Related Videos

Back when the Toronto Sun, the founding newspaper of the Sun Media chain, was taking its first steps, an editorial spoke of the need for Senate reform.

This was long before Preston Manning's Reform Party and a young policy advisor named Stephen Harper were attacking the Liberals about the need for a Triple-E Senate -- as in equal, elected, and effective.

This was back in the early 1970s, and crooner Sammy Davis Jr., dead now almost 23 years, had a Top 10 hit with The Candy Man.

So it wasn't exactly yesterday.

That same Stephen Harper, now prime minister, last week sent his promise for incremental Senate reform to be vetted first by the Supreme Court in order to hopefully avoid future constitutional challenges.

This was wise.

The government's proposed legislation, Bill C-7, would limit senators' terms to nine years and allow the provinces to hold elections to choose them. The Governor General would then, on the advice of the PM, appoint senators who had been selected through these elections.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Well, if it were so simple, it would have been done years ago, but there is huge pushback from many provinces and within the Senate itself, including some of Harper's 51 Tory appointees, who will need to approve the legislation.

And there's the rub.

After all, firing oneself from such a cushy job conflicts with the mindset of those who see the Senate as a trough rather than a chamber of sober second thought.

By getting the Supreme Court to rule first on the constitutionality of the legislation, Harper is aiming to paint the opposition into a corner.

In going to the highest court, however, Harper is also putting aside the advice about being once bitten, twice shy since the Supreme Court has already put the bite to him.

Last year, for example, the Supreme Court ruled nine-zip that the government's plan to create a new national securities regulator was unconstitutional.

So it's no sure thing.

It will take at least two years for the Supreme Court to make its ruling on the constitutionality of Senate reform.

Senate reform a golden oldie

Back when the Toronto Sun, the founding newspaper of the Sun Media chain, was taking its first steps, an editorial spoke of the need for Senate reform.

This was long before Preston Manning's Reform Party and a young policy advisor named Stephen Harper were attacking the Liberals about the need for a Triple-E Senate -- as in equal, elected, and effective.

This was back in the early 1970s. So it wasn't exactly yesterday.

That same Stephen Harper, now prime minister, last week sent his promise for incremental Senate reform to be vetted first by the Supreme Court in order to hopefully avoid future constitutional challenges.

The government's proposed legislation, Bill C-7, would limit senators' terms to nine years and allow the provinces to hold elections to choose them. The Governor General would then, on the advice of the PM, appoint senators who had been selected through these elections.